Combination face shield and hood

ABSTRACT

A COMBINATION FACE SHIELD AND HOOD WHICH IS PARTICULARLY USEFUL TO PROTECT THE WEARER AGAINST BB&#39;&#39;S FIRED BY A RIFLE SUCH AS USED IN ARMY INFANTRY TRAINING. IT INCLUDES A SUSPENSION WHICH IS READILY ATTACHABLY TO ANY ARMY HELMET, TWO DOUBLE LENS PORTIONS AND A HOOD PORTION FOR RESISTING BB SHOTS. THE HOOD PORTION CONTAINS TWO SCREENED OPENINGS ON THE SIDES THEREOF FOR HEARING AND VENTILATION.

March 16, 1971 R HQFFMASTER EI'AL 3,570,010

COMBINATION FACE SHIELD AND HOOD 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 5, 1969 Fig. l

mvsuroms GEORGE R. "OFF-MASTER BY WILLIAM R450 R thew ATTORNEY March 16, 1971 HQFFMASTER EI'AL 3,570,010

CQMBINATION FACE SHIELD AND HOOD Filed March 5, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3 INVENTOR.

GEORGE Rwormnsmr BY! WILLIAM R- ouuzp hlirAT TORNEY United States Patent 3,570,010 COMBINATION FA'CE SHIELD AND HOOD George R. Holfmaster and William R. Bohner, Reading,

Pa., assignors to ESB Incorporated, Philadelphia, Pa. Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 754,220,

Aug. 21, 1968. This application Mar. 5, 1969, Ser.

Int. Cl. A42b 1/08; A61f 9/00 US. C]. 23 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This application is a continuation-in-part of our application Ser. No. 754,220, filed Aug. 21, 1968 and now abandoned.

This invention relates to a combination face shield and hood which is particularly suitable for the protection against BBs fired from a rifle, such as a C0 BB rifle, used for army patrol training and the like to improve accuracy and speed of firing a rifle.

In the past, no truly suitable face and head protector has been available which could be easily and quickly attached to or detached from a military helmet and which would fully protect the face and head of the wearer against stray shots or even direct shots by a BB rifle, as occurs in army training for patrolling units and the like. Nor have such previous protectors been provided with the necessary comfort, particularly as to air ventilation.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved combination of face shield and hood which overcomes all the above-named disadvantages of protective hood and shields and which provides maximum protection of the wearer, maximum comfort in wear, and easy and quick attachment or detachment relative to any army helmet or the like.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a face and head protective hood which is easily and quickly attached to or detached from the brim portion of an army helmet and which includes highly protective windows or visors which are simple to mount and easy to replace and which provide good vision, also which provide, together with the hood, maximum protection against BB shots fired by a rifle or hand gun.

Another object of the invention is to provide a protective hood which includes screened openings on the sides thereof for better hearing as well as protection against BB shots, and for ventilation.

Other objects and advantages will become more apparent from a study of the following descripiton taken with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front, perspective view of a combination face shield and attachment embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, perspective view of the quickly attachable strap for supporting the hood by attachment to the brim portion of the helmet and wherein one of the spring clips is shown in an exploded view for clarity of illustration;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the ear protective screen for ventilation and hearing; and,

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV- IV of FIG. 3.

3,570,010 Patented Mar. 16, 1971 Referring more particularly to FIG. 1 of the drawing, numeral 1 generally denotes a combination face shield and hood which is easily and quickly attachable to a helmet (not shown) such as an army type or even an industrial safety type helmet of metal, plastic or other suitable material, including a brim portion onto which may be clipped the face shield and hood combination. The hood denoted by numeral 2 is made of a unique material which is impenetrable to BB shots fired by a C0 powered BB rifle. It is preferably made of bonded dacron batting, say about 6 ounce weight, for example, with sage green nylon outer and inner covers or linings with a single needle stitch along edges, which edges are bound with tape. The hood is shaped so as to completely encircle the face and neck of the wearer and its bottom edge is contoured to fit about the shoulders, breast and back of the wearer.

The top edge portion of the hood encircles a metal or plastic springy band of the construction shown in FIG. 1, denoted by numeral 10 and including a plurality of bolts or rivets 7 attached to hood 6.

FIG. 2 shows the detachable band assembly denoted generally by numeral 11, which assembly comprises a springy strap of metal or plastic material bent into oval shape with confronting ends contained within both the front and rear channels 10, each of which is surrounded by a helical spring for detachably urging the respective end portions of the band toward each other so that the band may be yieldably snapped into the band portion of the helmet. Rigidly attached to the side portions of the band are substantially U-shaped spring elements 14 termi nating in holes through which rivets 15 or other suitable fastening means may extend for attaching the band thereto. Fasteners 16, 17 attach elements 14 to band 10.

Brim hooks 18 of nylon or other plastic or springy material are rigidly attached by rivets 15 or other suitable fastening means to one side of the spring clips 14 and are each provided with a grooved arcuate section, as shown, which terminates in a shoulder portion for supporting the brim portion of the helmet. In other Words, the hood portion is slipped over the helmet so that band 11 yieldably grips the band portion of the helmet, and the arcuate portions of the brim clips or hooks 18 are grasped and sprung apart, since they are made of springy material and since the shank portions are of sufficiently reduced thickness to permit bending. Upon releasing of the hooks, they will latch onto the bottom edges of the brim of the helmet and thus the hood and face shield are securely latched onto the helmet.

The front portion of the hood has a pair of cut-out openings or windows onto each of which are attached double visors or lenses 3 held along the perimeters. Such lenses are preferably made of transparent polycarbonate of about .05 inch thickness so as to withstand impact at extreme hot or cold temperatures.

The outer lens or visor 3 is superimposed over the inner one and both are attached to the hood 6 by acorn nuts 5 or other suitable fasteners extending through peripheral holes which are in registry with corresponding holes in the hood. The lenses are made of a material which will not shatter or break but which merely make depressions, rather than holes, when BB shots are fired thereon by a C0 powered rifle.

To provide adequate ventilation inside the hood as well as to permit the wearer to clearly hear outside sounds through the hood, a pair of circular air inlet openings are provided, one on each side of the hood, and which are covered by a wire screen 9, preferably of stainless steel, such as about .02" dia. Screen 9 is attached to a ring 7 having peripheral holes 8' through which acorn nuts extend to fasten the screens to the sides of the hood, as shown more clearly in FIG. 1.

Screens 9 provide not only ventilation and permit better hearing of outside noises, but also serve as shields to prevent entry of stray BB shots even when fired by a rifle or hand gun. Such screens are located opposite the ears of the wearer.

Thus it will be seen that we have provided a highly efficient combination hood and shield which may be easily and quickly attached to and detached from an army or industrial helmet and which is of a material having the amazing characteristic of resisting penetration by BB shots fired by a rifle or hand gun in both the hood and visor portions and which includes ventilation holes on both sides thereof to provide maximum comfort in wear without sacrificing safety and providing easy adjustability to different helmet sizes and different head and shoulder contours of the wearer.

While we have illustrated and described a single specific embodiment of our invention, it will be understood that this is by way of illustration only, and that various changes and modifications may be made within the contemplation of our invention and within the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A combination hood and eye shield for quick and easy attachment to the brim portion of a helmet, including a first band portion and spring means for yieldably holding the band portion against the brim portion of the helmet, springly hooks depending from and attached to opposite sides of said band portion for attachment to the bottom edge of the brim of the helmet, a hood including a second band portion along the top edge thereof, means which is attaching said second hand portion to said hooks in spaced relationship thereto in a radially outward direction, and a visor means in said hood, said hood having circular openings in opposite sides thereof into which circular rings are fitted, wire screens mounted by said rings to facilitate hearing and to permit air to enter one side of the hood and exit from the other side.

2. A combination hood and shield as recited in claim 1, wherein said visor means comprises window opening means in the hood to which is rigidly secured a thin transparent plastic shield, in combination with a separate outer transparent plastic shield superimposed over said first mentioned shield and over a perimetrical window surrounding portion of the hood, and fastening means detachably fastening said second shield to spaced points along said perimetrical portion.

3. A combination hood and shield as recited in claim 1 wherein said hood is comprised of a dacron woven cloth batting having outer layers on opposite sides thereof of Nylon woven cloth.

4. A combination hood and shield as recited in claim 1, wherein both of said shields are of polished, flexible, transparent polycarbonate of about .05 thickness which form only depressions, instead of holes, when fired upon by a high powered BB rifle.

5. A combination hood and shield as recited in claim 1, wherein said visor means comprises two window openings in the hood.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,872,877 8/1932 Bowers 2-3 2,579,942 12/1951 MacLean 23 3,137,005 6/1964 Herbine et a1. 28

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,096,543 2/1955 France 210 H. HAMPTON HUNTER, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

